Plans cleared for new hotel

New apartments also in the works for Mishawaka

New apartments also in the works for Mishawaka

February 21, 2006|SUE LOWE Tribune Staff Writer

The final site plan has been approved for a new Residence Inn in the Grape Road/Main Street corridor. "They're anxious to get started very soon," Daniel Akin, of Danch, Harner & and Associates said of builders. The hotel will be on the southern part of the former Bobick's Pro Shop property on Day Road. Akin said a restaurant may be built on the northern part of the property but no details are available yet. Plans call for 105 rooms for guests and a conference room. The Mishawaka Plan Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals gave their approval for the work Feb. 14.

In other business, Plan Commission members voted to recommend that the Mishawaka Common Council allow construction of 144 apartments on a little less than 11 acres in the 55800 block of Fir Road north of McKinley Avenue. The decision is on the agenda for the council meeting at 7 p.m. today. The planned unit development originally approved for the site called for 119 townhouses. Attorney Anthony Zappia said property owner Richard LaFree plans to sell the land to Crestline Communities of Noblesville, Ind. He said the development will cost about $13 million. The staff of the Plan Commission received one letter from a neighbor opposing construction on the site.

Plan Commission members also recommended that the council annex 10 acres on Day Road east of Home Street and zone it light industrial. That will not be discussed by council members until their meeting at 7 p.m. March 6. Terance Lang, from Lang Feeney & Associates, said a group of investors bought the property as Whistle Stop Square Associates. He said Frito-Lay, which has a warehouse on adjacent property, wants to buy part of the property to expand its parking lot. The investors also would like to develop something on the property themselves but don't have any specific plans yet. Paul Fielder, a neighbor, doesn't want the zoning changes until he knows more about what kind of facilities might go there. Plan Commission members also recommended that the council:

Vacate the parts of Webster and Clay streets north of West Lowell Avenue at the request of Bethel College, which owns all the property on the streets.

Rezone a house at 2220 Lincoln Way West from commercial to residential so it can be sold to a family. Commission members approved:

Splitting 1501 and 1511 Panama Street into two lots. The property is currently one lot with two houses on it.